If the sales tax in your city is $4.5\%$, how much tax would you pay for an item that costs $\$4$ before tax? Round to the nearest cent.
Solution: In order to find the amount of sales tax you would pay, multiply the sales tax by the original price of the item. ${4.5\%} \times {\$4} =$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $4.5\%$ is equivalent to $4.5 \div 100$ $4.5 \div 100 = 0.045$ Multiply the sales tax you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of sales tax that must be paid. Round to the nearest cent. $0.045$ $\times$ $$4$ = $$0.18$ You would pay $$0.18$ in sales tax.